


endless blue sky

by rosecake



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: F/F, Heist, Mild Hurt/Comfort, stealing from bad guys
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-25
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2020-07-19 09:37:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19971919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosecake/pseuds/rosecake
Summary: It's nice not to be alone on a job for once, even if it slightly complicates things.





	endless blue sky

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saiditallbefore](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saiditallbefore/gifts).



Getting in was easy. Getting in was always easy for Ava. It didn’t matter how advanced a security system was when she could phase right through it. 

Things were a little trickier with Hope. Hope could squeeze herself through keyholes and flit between bars, and that had been enough for any number of heists they’d run together, but the six-inch steel vault door blocking their way into the treasury didn’t have any gaps in it big enough for her even at her smallest. 

“I’m going to need a little help with this,” said Hope. 

Luckily they’d spent a lot of time experimenting with Ava’s powers once she was stable. Through trial and error they’d figured out that if Hope was small enough, and kept close enough to Ava’s body, they could phase together. So once Hope had settled against the crook of her neck, as small as she could safely get, all Ava had to do was step forward. 

The first thing Ava noticed once they were in the vault was the size of it. The space was a lot bigger than she’d anticipated - instead of the tightly packed square room she’d expected, she found herself in a long hallway. She could see the crystal they’d come for in a glass case at the opposite end of the vault, glowing softly gold and blue from within, the surface clouded and shifting. Just like Hill had described it. 

The second thing she noticed, also unexpected, were the half-dozen guards stationed in the vault. They rose to their feet, their shouts angry and confused as they realized they weren’t alone anymore. 

Hope cursed, and Ava felt a rush of displaced air beside her as she shifted back to full size. 

“What’s happening?” Luis was their handler for this job, and his voice was broken up with static, the reception partially blocked by whatever they’d lined the vault with. It was sort of amazing they could hear him at all, but then again Hank didn’t let Hope work with anything but the best tech. “I lost visual. Are you okay?” 

“Just a little more resistance than we were expecting,” said Hope. “Ava, get the crystal.” 

The guards didn’t bother asking any questions before they opened fire. But Ava was already moving, phasing out as she headed for the crystal, while Hope shrank down until she was too difficult to target. 

Ava’d brought a weight with her, in case they were storing the crystal on a sensor pad, but with the fight already raging behind her she didn’t think it mattered all that much if she tripped an alarm. She phased through the glass case and pulled the crystal out, and sure enough sirens rang out as she looked back for Hope. 

Half the guards were already collapsed on the floor. One of them looked like he’d been hit in the leg by a ricocheted bullet, and she’d might have felt bad for him if he weren’t working for Hydra. Or if he hadn’t been trying to shoot Hope. 

One second Hope was human-sized, large enough to drive her fist in the back of a guard’s neck, and the next she was shrinking down to avoid being stuck by one of his comrades. The last guard was looking at Ava, his gun up, and the glass case behind her shattered as he fired through her. 

If Ava wanted she could step backward through the wall and keep moving until she was free. The guards would be stuck behind her, unable to follow. But that would mean leaving Hope behind. 

And that was the tricky part of this working relationship they had, this team-up where they went on jobs together. For SHIELD, for the Avengers, for anyone who asked. Ava didn’t mind stealing if it was for a good cause, if it was for people she trusted not to lie to her. But what she didn’t bring up when they were choosing targets or planning heists, what she kept to herself, was that it would be easy enough for her to do it on her own. Easier, really, if she didn’t have to look out for anyone else. Less strain on her body if she didn’t have to phase anything but herself. 

But Ava had spent years doing jobs by herself. Completely alone, often times without even the static sound of a handler’s voice in her earpiece to keep her company. She was tired of it. 

The guard fired his entire cartridge into the wall behind her, and the second the gun clicked and stopped firing she surged forward. She was solid as her legs pushed against the ground, givng her momentum, and she was still solid as she drove her first into his jaw. 

She let herself phase right through him as he fell, looking for Hope. 

“Do you have it?” asked Hope, standing full-sized among the chaos she’d wrought. None of the guards were left upright, although some of them were still conscious. Ava could tell because of their moaning. Hope’s breathing was heavy, her chest rising and falling under her suit, but she was smiling, triumphant. Ava always thought Hope liked a good fight more than she was willing to admit. 

Ava held up the crystal. “Great,” said Hope. “Let’s get out of here.” 

She shrank again, holding onto Ava’s hair as they slipped out of the vault. The corridor outside was a hive of activity, the sirens still blaring, but Ava passed through the crowd unseen, so insubstantial as to be invisible. 

As she stepped out into the busy Barcelona street Hope started talking, giving Luis a better explanation of what had happened now that they weren’t underground and the connection was clear. Nobody ever managed to follow Ava, not when she was invisible, but she stayed alert anyway. 

A few blocks away, once they were sure they were clear, they ducked into the closed store they’d used to stash their stuff. A quick costume change and the job was over, for the most part. There was a stolen crystal in her purse, one that Fury had very strenuously urged them to recover as quickly as possible, but they were in civilian clothes now, and when they stepped back into public they were two normal women walking down the street. They wouldn’t attract an undue amount of attention. 

The jet wouldn’t be ready to take them home until the next morning, and the hotel they were staying at was a few miles away. It was lovely spring weather, though, and Ava didn’t mind walking. Better than being shuffled into a dark van for hours of debrief. 

“So what do you think it is?” asked Hope, tapping Ava’s purse as they walked. “Magic or alien?” “You don’t think it’s man-made?” 

“I like to think if it were man-made I’d have at least some idea of what it was,” said Hope. 

Ava thought about it. “Magic,” she said. Really, it could be anything. Nothing surprised her anymore. 

“I’m going to go with alien,” said Hope. “It still kind of bothers me that magic is real.” 

There was a light burning in Hope’s fingers as she walked, a sensation stuck somewhere between pain and numbness. She was better, thanks to the particle therapy Hope’s parents had come up with, but too much phasing still tended to bring trouble back. She stretched her fingers out, trying to work the feeling out, but it didn’t help. 

She thought she’d been subtle about it, but Hope stopped, taking her hand. “Are you okay?” she asked. 

“It’s fine,” said Ava. “It’s nothing.” 

Hope looked at her for a moment, like she didn’t quite believe her. “Okay,” she said, bringing Ava’s hand to her mouth, and her lips brushed against Ava’s knuckles. During their walk Ava’s heart rate from the fight had dropped back down to normal, but all of sudden it spiked again. “Just tell me if you need anything.” 

“I will,” said Ava, her mouth dry.  
She expected Hope to let go of her, but instead Hope held onto her hand as they started walking again. 

“We always just eat in the hotel,” she said. “Do you want to out tonight? The sun is going to set soon. I’m sure we could find something nice outdoors.” 

Ava looked out to the sky, the sun indeed starting to hang low. But for the moment it was still bright, the sky and endless beautiful blue. 

She wasn’t used to things like that. If there had been any beauty in her life before, she’d been too blinded by pain to notice it. 

“That sounds wonderful,” she said, winding her fingers between Hope’s as they walked hand in hand back to their hotel.


End file.
